Urb­an Renew­al in West

In the 1950s and 1960s, Amsterdam grew bey­ond its former bor­der, the motor­way ringroad. Extens­ive new res­id­en­tial areas were cre­ated in the west of the city, based on an urb­an plan from the 1930s, with large apart­ment blocks and low-rise row houses, float­ing in pub­lic green space. Only twenty years later, how­ever, Amsterdam-West turned into a prob­lem­at­ic dis­trict with a high per­cent­age of immig­rants and unem­ploy­ment. Recent urb­an renew­al inter­ven­tions, includ­ing the trans­form­a­tion of many areas and the intro­duc­tion of new dwell­ing types, prom­ise to change this situ­ation.

In con­trast to the his­tor­ic centre, Amsterdam-West offers space for archi­tec­tur­al exper­i­ments. The res­ults are partly spec­tac­u­lar pro­jects with bold col­ours and con­cepts, but also some attempts to cre­ate innov­at­ive res­id­en­tial mod­els for the spe­cif­ic tar­get groups in this post­war neigh­bour­hood.

We’ll take you on a tour along prime examples of post-war hous­ing as well as recent urb­an renew­al pro­jects.